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IMPORTANT TO IRON MANUFACTURERS 


DESCRIPTION 


OF THE 


PATENTED 


UNIVERSAL 

Blast and Smelting Furnace, 

INVENTED BY THE RUSSIAN MINING ENGINEER A MAJOR-GENERAL, 

WOLDEMAR RACHETTE. 

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THIS INVENTION IS SUCCESSFULLY INTRODUCED AND PATENTED IN RUSSIA^ 
FRANCE, ENGLAND, BELGIUM, AUSTRLY, SWEDEN, AND WAS AT THE 
WORLD'S FAIR OF 1862 REWARDED WITH THE PRIZE MEDAL. 


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PRINTED BY PHAIR & CO., 11 FRANKFORT STREET. k 

1864 . 





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DESCRIPTION. 


The practical introduction of General Rachette’s new sys¬ 
tem of Blast and Smelting Furnaces has met with great 
success in Europe. The prominent Iron Manufacturers of 
Russia, France, and Germany give the most enthusiastic ac¬ 
counts of the results that have been attained in its use. 

Careful comparison has elicited the following advantages: 

1. A SAYING OF ABOUT ONE-HALF IN MATERIAL 
AND LABOR, AND OF MORE THAN DOUBLE IN TIME 
AT THEIR FIRST CONSTRUCTION. 

2. A GREATLY INCREASED YIELD, 3| TIMES 
GREATER THAN IS OBTAINED FROM FURNACES 
OF THE OLD CONSTRUCTION OF EQUAL AREA. 
(See annexed Table.) 

3. A SAVING IN FUEL, AVERAGING FROM 9 TO 15 
PER CENT. 

i. AN EASIER MANAGEMENT OF THE PROCESS, 
AND A MORE PERFECT REDUCTION OF THE ORES. 

5. A BETTER AND MORE UNIFORM QUALITY OF 
CAST-IRON. 

G. A LONGER SMELTING PERIOD AND BETTER 
PRESERVATION OF THE FURNACES, 


4 


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These results have been obtained in a number of large 
furnaces that have been worked during the last two years at 
the Iron and Copper smelting works of Prince DemidofT, at 
Nischne Tagilsk, at the foot of the Ural Mountains, in Russia. 

These facts have all been verified and confirmed by the 
results obtained in furnaces erected in France, Germany, and 
England. Will our American iron-masters follow in the wake 
of progress? 

Prejudices must finally give way to stubborn facts. 

This new system of furnaces is no theory or result of small 
experiments; it is a tested and fully successful invention, 
which deserves our special attention, and should find a speedy 
introduction in this country. 

Referring the reader to the annexed drawing, I will now pro¬ 
ceed to point out the peculiar features by which General 
Rachette’s “Universal Blast and Smelting Furnace” is dis¬ 
tinguished from the furnaces of older construction, and such 
as are now in use : 

This furnace is called “ Universal” because experience has 
shown that this system, with but slight modifications, can , with 
unerring success, be adopted for smelting of copper, nickel, 
tin, lead, silver, gold, and other ores or metals. 

Cast-steel has successfully been melted in one of these 
furnaces, and the Russian mining engineer, M. Aubel, states 
that even platinum has yielded to the intense heat before the 
mouth of the tuyere. 

The hearth has the shape of an elongated rectangle ; the in¬ 
terior of the furnace rises up to an inverted square pyramid. 

The shape of the furnace, narrow, long, and proportionally 
low , grows 'wider at, the tunnel head (the top of the furnace); 
it is furnished with a double series of tuyeres, or blast tubes, 
arranged in alternate, interchanging order. This furnace has 
further two tvorldng sides or tymps, and under its hearth and 
all through the walls a system of channels and jlues, by means of 
which the furnace, while being built, is dried and heated from 
tlie outside inside, and afterwards ventilated, in order to pre¬ 
serve the walls of the furnace from being too much expanded 
and injured by the accumulating heat. 

Some of my readers may desire to understand more fully 


5 


the “ reasons why ” a system of such furnaces has produced so 
extraordinary results : I will therefore append a digest of ex¬ 
tracts from several European publications. 

A. All furnaces of the old system have boshes and contract 
toward the tunnel head, and thereby at first hasten, and then 
retard the descent of the charges, in order to prolong the time 
of their exposure to the ascending gases. They are therefore 
built high (50 to GO feet) to prevent too great loss of heat at 
the tunnel head, and require a considerable pressure of blast. 
In the furnaces of old construction the charge remains about 
24 hours. 

In the Rachette blast furnace, only 25 to 30 feet high, we 
find no boshes, the inside of the furnace gradually widens from 
the hearth toward the top, and thereby gives the charges a 
uniform, regular descent. The pressure of the blast is most 
materially diminished (from one-half to 3 pounds on the 
square inch has been found sufficient in most cases), and the 
intense heat produced at the tuyeres during its passage up¬ 
wards, over a continually increasing area, becomes more dis¬ 
tributed, easier absorbed and tempered. It is very remarkable 
also, that in these new furnaces the charges remain only seven 
hours, and are nevertheless perfectly reduced and smelted in 
this short space of time. 

B. The use of a larger or smaller number of tuyeres in the 
old system of round or oval furnaces, and their relative posi¬ 
tion, have been subject to many discussions, without, however, 
being decided one way or the other ; all the iron-masters, 
however, seem to agree in the one point, namely, to place the 
mouths of the tuyeres toward the center, or opposite each 
other. In Rachette’s furnace the position of the tuyeres, and 
their arrangement, is peculiar and different from all others. 
The openings or mouths of the tuyeres are not facing each 
other, but are arranged in an interchanging order. The most 
intense heat has been found two inches before the mouth of the 
tuyere, forming the focus or highest point of heat ; it can, 
therefore, easily be understood that by this arrangement a 
series of foci is obtained, one close to the other, forming a 
perfect uniform melting zone. By this alternate, interchanging 
blast arrangement a rotary motion is imparted to the unequally 


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impinged metal, and its liquefaction greatly accelerated. In 
some of the recently built European furnaces General Rachette 
has used five or six tuyeres on each side, about one foot distant 
from the other. In some instances the General has also 
adopted a system of slit blast-boxes in place of tuyeres. 

C. The furnaces of older construction, and such as are now 
in use, are all dried out and heated from the inside to the out¬ 
side—a very tedious, costly, and time-consuming process, 
requiring much care and judgment, and consuming, after the 
furnace is built, a period of nearly a year, and before it is 
ready for use from 3 to 4 months more. 

In the new system of General Rachette’s furnaces, the dry¬ 
ing and heating as well as ventilating of the walls are accom¬ 
plished in the reverse order, from the outside to the inside. 
The drying of the furnace is carried on while the same is 
being built, so that the furnace, when completed, can be set to 
work at once without further delay. Even in winter time and 
during the w'et season, furnaces have been built and success¬ 
fully dried and heated. For instance, the last furnace erected 
on this system at Mulheim, Germany, was completed in 4 
months, and immediately, without further delay, set to work. 

The annexed drawing shows a system of channels and flues, 
which, beginning under the hearth, branch out in vertical and 
horizontal directions, through the walls, up to the top of the 
furnace. Various openings on the sides can be closed or 
opened at pleasure. 

When the smelting process has begun, the circulating at¬ 
mospheric air carries off the radiating heat from the w r alls of 
the furnace, and prevents them from becoming overheated and 
destroyed by the sudden changes of temperature. By the 
perfect arrangement of flues, any part of the furnace can be 
heated up or cooled down. The advantages of this new and 
important heating and ventilating system may be summed up 
as follows : 

a. Saving of - time, labor, and material in the first construc¬ 
tion of the furnace. 

b. A great economy in fuel in the drying and heating process 
itself. 

c. A most decidedly beneficial ventilating effect. 

d. A greater durability and working capacity of the furnace. 


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e. It prevents many difficulties and mishaps occurring* fre¬ 
quently in furnaces of old construction, such as chilling or 
clogging up, and facilitates the process and working most 
effectually. 

D. The Rachette furnace has two tymps or working sides. 
The greater yield of metal, and the rapid passage of the 
charges through the furnace, make an increase of space for 
tapping, casting, etc., necessary, and facilitate the working. 

E. The charge^ in this furnace are made in the same way as 
in the furnaces of old construction, with this difference, that 
the ore and flux are placed more around the outer edges of 
the tunnel head, while the coal is placed more toward the 
middle. Experience has shown that, by this mode of charging, 
whereby the ore and flux are brought nearer to the mouth of 
the tuyeres, leaving the fuel more toward the center, a decided 
saving in fuel, as well as also a more complete reduction of the 
ores, are obtained. 


F. The rapid yield and excellent quality of metal produced 
in the blast furnaces recommend the adaptation of this system 
for Cupola and Refining furnaces. 

M. Charles Aubel, the constructor of the furnaces in Europe, 
states that the production of large masses of cast-steel has been 
successfully accomplished, either from cast-iron alone, or from 
a mixture of the proper materials. 

This system of furnaces is admirably adapted for extracting 

THE IRON FROM THE WASTE CINDER OF RUDDLING AND REHEATING 

furnaces after having been prepared by my patented process. 
Discussions of a more elaborate nature can be found in the 
London Mining and Smelting Magazine for April and May, 
1864, Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal, Berg and Hiitten- 
mannische Zeitung, Pamphlets written by Charles Aubel, C. E., 
iiT St. Petersburg, Russia, and Professor Schinz, in Strasbourg. 

A. L. FLEURY, 

Practical Chemist. 

New York, August, 1864. \ 

74 University Place. i 


PRACTICAL RESULTS. 


Tlie following results have been published in the London 
Mining and Smelting Magazine for July, 1864 :—During the 
first four weeks of working of the Iiachette furnace at Mulheim 
in Germany, the total make of the furnace amounted to about 
800,000 lbs. (400 tuns) of gray pig-iron, the quality of which, as 
foundry metal, left nothing to be desired. The make of the first 
day amounted to 9,900 lbs.; that of the fourteenth day to 39,200 
lbs. ; that of the twenty-second to 42,300 lbs. ; and that of the 
twenty-fifth to 45,600 lbs. Subsequently, in consequence of 
the use of poorer ores being adopted, the make dropped back 
on the thirtieth day to 42,300 lbs. . The credit is mainly due, 
in this instance, to the constructor of the furnace, Mr. Charles 
Aubel, who has after three months’ working guaranteed a 
daily make of from 36,000 to 40,000 lbs. of gray pig-iron, a 
make which, as has been shown by the figures above given, 
had been obtained in the third week of working. With respect 
to the saving of fuel in this furnace, the furnace is not yet in 
its full working condition, and also the ores used -were such as 
required 50 to 55 lbs. of limestone flux per 100 lbs. of ore. 

Taking the circumstances stated into consideration, the con¬ 
sumption of fuel, which amounted to 1,500 lbs. of Westphalia 
coke per 1,000 lbs. of gray pig-iron made, cannot be considered 
as unsatisfactory. The pressure of blast was very low, from 
1£ to 1^ lbs., while the furnaces of the ordinary form require 
at least double that pressure. Hence at the new Mulheim fur¬ 
nace half the fuel formerly required for generating steam for 
the blast engines is now saved. 

It must be remembered that the capacity of this furnace, 
costing not moro than 10,000 dollars, is only about 2,800 cubic 
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Universal Blast and Smelting Furnace, 

Invented by the Russian Mining Engineer and Major-G-eneral, 

WOLDEMAR RACHETTE. 

PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES, RUSSIA, FRANCE, ENGLAND, BELGIUM, AUSTRIA, SWEDEN, etc. 

The present sketch is taken from the Working Drawings of (the last built successful Furnace, at Mulheim, 
Germany. 


Fig. 1 represents a Front View. 

“ 2 a Vertical Section. 

“ 3 a Longitudinal Section. 

“ 4 a Horizontal Section of tho Hearth. 


5 a Horizontal Section of the Heating Arrangements. 



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FIG. 5. 


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/ 

IMPORTMT TO IRON MA1FJCTIIRRRS. 


DESCRIPTION 


OF THE 

PATENTED 


UNIVERSAL 

Blast and Smelting Furnace, 

INVENTED BY TIIE RUSSIAN MINING ENGINEER MAJOR GENERAL, 

WOLDEMAR RACHETTE. 



THIS INVENTION IS SUCCESSFULLY INTRODUCED AND PATENTED IN RUSSIA, 
FRANCE, ENGLAND, BELGIUM, AUSTRIA, SWEDEN, AND WAS AT THE 
WORLD’S FAIR OF 186*2 REWARDED WITH THE PRIZE MEDAL. 


$tui Atoit: 

PRINTED BY PHAIR & CO., 11 FRANKFORT STREET. 


1804. 









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